Regret from a Traitor
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: Fiona Fox's guilt has finally caught up with her, and after sending the Freedom Fighters an apology letter with no hope that they'd forgive her, she heads off to Moebius not caring what fate awaits her, and the Suppression Squad discovers where she is.


The Freedom Fighters were enjoying a typical Christmas, sitting in front of the television in the living room taking a well-deserved break from their constant fighting of the war against Dr. Robotnik. Tails was making hot chocolate, while Antoine and Bunnie were sitting beside each other on the couch enjoying each other's company, and everyone else was relaxing watching TV. Sally ordered, " Amy, check the mail for us, " while finishing combing her hair for the morning. Amy agreed, opened the front door and left it briefly to check the mailbox.

She soon went back into the house holding mail from the mailbox, saying, " We got a letter! It reads… ' from the selfish traitor?! ' " Everyone was shocked at hearing that, and immediately got out of their chairs and off the floor to crowd around her as Sally ordered her, " Keep reading! " the volume on the TV being put on mute as she had a serious and wary expression. Amy read unhappily,

" I'm sorry about all the trouble I caused you. You'll never have to see me again. I've made a lot of stupid mistakes, and there's nothing I can do or say to erase them or excuse them, but I can at least explain why I did them better. I owe you an explanation, and I really want to tell you how much I regret it all now before it's too late. I'm not sure where to begin, and just writing down what I did is really hard for me. I shouldn't have treated Tails that way and I shouldn't have

done all those things with Scourge, and there's no excuse for that first thing, I hated myself the night after I did it. All I can really say is Scourge was watching, I was under a lot of pressure and stress, I didn't want to get in trouble with Scourge and was already in deep trouble with Sonic anyways. I was under a lot of stress and pressure being put on the spot and I took it out on Tails as a quick way to make him stop trying to convince me not to go with him. But he's a sweet kid who didn't deserve that. I never really hated him.

What I'm trying to say and taking forever to is that there was another reason to me leaving you guys that I never bothered to explain to you, and I should've at least mentioned it before I left. Truth is, I got scared. Sally found out about my past breaking the law, and it looked like she started hating me. And since she was the one in charge, I started getting scared that she'd eventually force me to leave the Freedom Fighters because of what I had to do to stay alive in the past, and I didn't want to experience the feeling of being abandoned again. I ended up getting into the mindset that I was doomed to be kicked out eventually no matter how much I helped or how loyal I was, and Scourge only agreed with that. That's not to say he was manipulating me on purpose. I've seen him try to manipulate people and he's really obvious about it, with a smirk and everything. But in that situation, he seemed to actually agree with me that I was on the way out. I got into

this mindset of, ' ditch them before they ditch me, ' and ' nothing really matters because I'll be kicked out soon anyways. '

Maybe if I had at least tried to talk to Sally about it... I don't know. It was probably hopeless. The Freedom Fighters have this reputation and she didn't want to stain it with a former criminal in the public eye. I get that. That's part of why I'm not bothering to try and come back. That and I know I don't have a chance now. I'll just have the interdimensional police called on me the minute I go up to you guys, or at least the regular ones.

My point is, I went with Scourge because Sally started hating me and even Sonic seemed to be doing the same thing, saying my past was " affecting the now. " I was in the mindset that I was going to be abandoned by the only friends I had and Scourge wasn't going to do that to me since he liked me, so going with him would make sure I'd still have someone there for me after I inevitably got kicked out. I thought he'd be a more loyal friend, or rather boyfriend, but recently, we've gotten

into so many arguments, and eventually he got sick of all that and said he needed a break. He already had to deal with disagreements and negativity from Miles before me, and he was getting sick of my increasing ' hesitation ' so he wanted to spend some time without me to see if he'd actually miss me.

Knowing my luck, he might not. He might just find another girl more willing to do what he says without any arguing at all. He's so ungrateful! I can't believe him! Knowing him, he meant it when he said it'd be temporary, but he'll probably get distracted by other girls and forget all about me, and even if he doesn't, he doesn't know where I am and how to get back in contact with me. I wouldn't know even if he changed his mind, and at this point, I don't care, because he's just another person who left me all alone. He did exactly what I thought Sally would. And now I don't know what to do.

I have no one. I don't have any clear direction in life. I'm obviously gonna get in trouble if I stay in Mobius by myself for too long, and that's why I'm going to Moebius as soon as I deliver this letter, but I'm not wanted there either. The Suppression Squad won't be happy to see that I'm back after they had to deal with me being in charge. I don't want to think about what they're going to do to me when they get a hold of me. Will they torture me? Or put me in prison, or just execute me outright? They'll want revenge. But you know what? I deserve it. I've been an idiot. I feel horrible. I made stupid mistakes because I was scared and I acted on impulse irrationally, I was selfish and

didn't even try to talk it out, and I wasn't really thinking ahead all that much and just assumed things would work out. Even if Scourge didn't get tired of me, he still got me in that same prison with him before that, so either way, things didn't really work out.

I won't try to pretend I didn't think it would be more fun with him, because that really was a motive of mine, an immature one, and you have every reason to hate me for it, to be frustrated with me and not trust me anymore. That's why I'm making sure for a fact that you'll never have to deal with me again. Don't give Tails this letter, or tell him about it. I don't want to cause the kid

any more heartache than I already did.

The point is, I'm going to guarantee for a fact that you'll never see me again. I don't really care what happens to me now. I stabbed you guys in the back, and now I'm going to get exactly what I deserve. I was able to hold all this back before, but when Scourge left, I guess it opened the floodgates and I couldn't take it anymore. I haven't eaten in days, I can barely sleep, I don't know what to do anymore. My life is over.

Don't waste time trying to find me, because even I don't know where exactly I'll go. And by the time you're able to get to Moebius, I'll already be dead. Whoever happens to find this letter, I'm really sorry I betrayed you. Tell the rest of the Freedom Fighters that I'm sorry I screwed up. Maybe I'm too absorbed in the past to be able to function as a friend. Maybe I'm just too screwed up in the head. "

None of them were happy to read the letter, with some of them holding back tears from sympathy. Even Amy was scared and devastated at the implication about how depressed and ashamed Fiona was and what she was planning to do, saying in a panic, " She's gonna get herself killed! " Reading the letter out loud had been increasingly harder for her the further she got into it, and in spite of what it advised, Sally immediately ordered Rotor, " Get started on trying to make a portal to Moebius! We're going after her! Sonic, hide the letter in your room until further notice! Don't let Tails find out about it! He'll only get worried, and for all we know, we might not actually be able to find her in time. "

Fiona walked into a city alley in Moebius in the middle of a freezing blizzard, shivering with no winter clothes on, with tears running down her face obscuring her vision as she was filled with nothing but regret. Angry with herself and having no faith that she had any other options, she pulled out of the pocket of her black shirt the kitchen knife she had broken into a nearby house to steal, and sniffled before saying clutching it tightly, " I'll get exactly what I deserve. "

Hearing a female shriek from a far-off distance, Miles stopped flying after the rest of the Suppression Squad with his pupils shrunken gasping in fear, landed on the sidewalk, and exclaimed, " Follow me! " to his alarmed teammates. With that, he turned around and started running in the direction of the scream with a serious expression. His tails were spinning behind him vertically like a propeller creating wind that propelled him forwards at high speeds, and not only that, but he pushed his hands backwards behind him, creating gale force winds that boosted his speed significantly. This naturally meant that he left his friends behind in an instant, and it was fortunate for them that they were equally capable of following the sound they had heard.

Soon, they heard Miles call out to them frantically, " Over here! Hurry! She's still alive! " and ran into the alley after him, stopping dead in their tracks at the sight of Scourge's girlfriend lying on the floor of the alley unconscious and bleeding from her back. " Leave it in! It's a plug for the wound, and she could have internal damage, " Miles said nervously, upon them noticing what exactly was in it.

Alicia, Patch and Boomer went up to her to examine their old enemy with a worried look on their faces, not because they cared about Fiona herself, but because of just how scared she was making Miles. Knowing him for several years of their lives resulted in them understanding what he wanted almost without words, but since none of them were too pleased with the idea of assisting Scourge's girlfriend, they stayed still and quiet until they had no other choice.

Only a second after Miles saw them catch up with him, he exclaimed, " We need to get her to the hospital! Get the anti-bleeding powder out! " causing Boomer to reluctantly pull the bottle of powder and a cotton ball out of his jacket complaining, " Why do you care so much about Scourge's bossy ' queen? ' Don't we want revenge? " Knowing that the young genius wouldn't change his mind, Boomer reluctantly put the powder on the cotton ball and held it to her wound anyways, moving it around the metal object lodged in it.

Getting nervous about how obvious his soft side was being, Miles stammered and lied with a forced expression of bitterness, " O-Of course we do! T-That's e-exactly why I'm doing this! Don't you see? If we just let her die, she'll escape any punishment we could give her! Ally, don't you want to make her know how she made us feel? It's about time that _she_ become the subordinate, to be taking orders from _you_ with you in your rightful place on the throne. It's about time that we let _her_ know how it feels to be on the bottom! " Patch muttered with his arms crossed, " Oh, I'm sure she already knows that… " Confused, Miles asked, " Why would you say that? " being too young to understand what he meant.

Alicia glared at Patch annoyed, giving him the clear message without having to say it, " He's a child! What's wrong with you? " before looking back at Miles and lying to him, " He means that she took orders from the Freedom Fighters before, not to mention she was technically following orders from Scourge even when she was still bossing us around. "

Miles asked nervously with a forced smirk, " So what do you think? As soon as she recovers, she can become your servant! " Alicia smirked satisfied with a hand to her chin, saying, " I do like the sound of that. It's a shame I'll have to wait for it for so long. " Relieved that she liked the plan, Miles said, " Great! S-Splendid! Alright, don't move her too much, it'll only move it around with her and cause further damage! "

His expression became more nervous as he stared at Fiona's unconscious body once again, and as he focused on the energizing presence of electrical energy in her body, feeling it flowing through Fiona as her vitals continued, he was acutely aware of her unusually rapid heart rate from the way the electricity in her heart was. That combined with her lack of conscious brain activity made it clear she had gone into shock. He kneeled at her side with his knees facing the floor of the alley, pulled down the back of her shirt to try to cover her cold back up better, and sighed, wishing he had an extra coat on hand as he took her pulse by the wrist and felt like it was as cold as ice.

" Damn it, call an ambulance, " he said covering up his fear with frustration, and as Alicia reluctantly got her cell phone out and started dialing the emergency number, he continued with a worried tone being covered up by an annoyed expression, " She's already cold enough as it is. I could create an ice stretcher beneath her and fly her to the hospital with a tornado underneath it, but the problem is that the ice and the air rushing past her from the speed at which it'll be moving will only _freeze_ our servant before she can do anything of significance. I'd have to use a solid stretcher to avoid moving her too much like using a tornado would do, and while I can warm her up like this, it'll only melt the ice beneath her… " With that, he started shaking his hands with his fingers bent towards him increasing the temperature of the air around Fiona to that of a normal house temperature, hoping that would be enough to help.

Alicia wasn't too pleased with what she was having to do for someone she hated so much when all she wanted to do was get revenge on her, but in order to get her revenge in the first place, she had to ensure that she would live. So in spite of her exasperation with the idea, she forced herself to help her, awkwardly explaining the situation to the person on the other line of the phone.

She tried to sound dignified and irritated, trying her best to hide how uncomfortable she was really feeling as she told the emergency operator who she was and where exactly they were in the city. She knew full well that what she was doing could be seen as a very noble and kind deed, possibly even an act of mercy, by the general public, and only the idea that it would get her less assassination attempts made her able to accept the damage to her menacing reputation that such assistance would do. She knew full well that once Fiona was recognized, everyone would be wondering why she was allowing her to live, and decided that she would make it very clear that she was to be her slave.

The next several minutes waiting at Fiona's side were agitating, both from Miles' associates knowing just how frantically worried he was and from the sheer boredom and impatience of having nothing to do during the wait. It didn't end when the ambulance arrived, either, as it only gave them a brief moment of something new happening as they got into the back of the ambulance and waited for Fiona to be brought inside carefully by the paramedics strapping her in. Then the ambulance started moving with them in it and they had to wait some more, sitting on various chairs with seatbelts as the vehicle made its way to the hospital.

After handing the paramedics the rest of the anti-bleeding powder Boomer had, Miles sat close to Alicia as his eyes darted around nervously, and subtly held her hand for comfort. Fortunately, she decided to humor him, stroking his hair understandingly as she had done many times before. He confessed sadly, " I-It's not that I'm worried about her or anything… I know what it's like to receive an injury like this. And seeing someone else experiencing that same thing… I couldn't stand it… No one wanted to help me when that happened to me. I didn't want to be the same way as if I was no better than them!... I know it's irrational, but I couldn't help it… "

There was a silence, as he looked sad and ashamed of himself with downcast eyes, the rest of the Suppression Squad awkwardly trying to avoid showing in front of the paramedics how much sympathy they had for him. The paramedics themselves, despite their dutifully tending to Fiona in her hour of need, still eavesdropped on Miles full of judgmental curiosity, trying to avoid directly looking at his sad expression for longer than a glance. It was clear that this would only cause even more rumors about Miles to spread, and while the people of Moebius had gained a healthy dose of fear of him for his newfound powers, they still had just as little respect for his personality as ever, calling him weak and irrational, and this would only further complicate matters.

Being self-conscious and worrying that he was giving his sympathy away, Miles forced himself to return to the evil genius act and said, " A-And again, like I said, we can't get revenge on her if we just let her escape any punishment. _Why_ allow her demise when we can condemn her to a life of servitude? _That'll_ be giving her what she deserves. " Alicia, Patch and Boomer nodded in agreement, and the rest of the ambulance ride was spent in silence, as they watched the scenery go by them through the window on the way to the hospital.

After several minutes, they finally reached the hospital after what felt like an eternity of waiting. Fiona's wound was fully treated, being disinfected and having gauze put in it so that it could heal from the bottom up, and her unusually cold temperature was in the process of being treated as well, with her hospital bed having lots of warm blankets on it for her. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent the doctor from having bad news to give them. " I have bad news about the patient. Don't worry, it's not hopeless, but I'll be blunt with you here. She needs a donation of blood fast or she's going to die. " Miles gasped, getting a sinking feeling as he started to become more worried than ever, and the rest of his teammates didn't fail to notice this.

Alicia sighed in frustration, knowing exactly what she would have to do. She asked the doctor what Fiona's blood type was, and upon learning that it was the same as hers, she volunteered reluctantly, " I'll donate. " Even more frustrated at everyone turning to look at her in shock, she grumbled bitterly as she rolled up her left sleeve,

" Just don't you dare tell anyone. " Miles, after being stunned into silence at it being too good to be true in his eyes, replied trying to make her feel better, " She owes you big for this. You'll be able to lord this over her for the rest of her life, " and couldn't help but have a great big smile as he said that, proud of her for her compassion. Alicia smirked replying, " Maybe you're right, " trying to ignore the discomfort as a nearby nurse quickly put a syringe into her arm for getting the donation from her.

From Fiona's perspective, she had completely lost awareness of everything around her moments after she made that impulsive decision, and as a result, time passed by in the blink of an eye as she experienced nothing but darkness, not hearing or feeling anything. Eventually, the long period of darkness and complete sensory deprivation subsided, overwhelming her with new information. Her vision went from pitch black to a brighter color as she became aware of the light on the ceiling of the room she was in, making her squeeze her eyes tightly reluctant to open them again. She felt a soft bed beneath her, not that it made up for the stinging aching pain in her back, or the unnerving feeling of gauze being in a wet-feeling spot of it reminding her of exactly what she had been through.

She was cold, and started shaking as a result, but at the very least she was covered in warm blankets that helped with the situation. There was a hospital bracelet strapped to her wrist, and she could hear the constant beeping of a heart monitor beside her. All of that information made it painfully clear to her that she had been found and taken to the hospital. She had failed, and on top of that, she must have been making whoever saved her worried sick over her, and the longer she spent keeping her eyes closed, the longer that would continue at its worst point.

She forced her eyes open slowly trying her best to ignore the bright light that greeted her, groaning miserably as she managed to wake up at last, and the nurse at her side noticed and opened the door of her room calling out, " She's waking up! " And much to her shock and bewilderment, the people who rushed into the room to see her were the Suppression Squad, the very same people she feared the consequences of meeting again.

" You saved me? " she managed to whisper, weak from blood loss. Alicia had her arms crossed looking away from her in embarrassed frustration, and said crossly, " Thank Miles. It was his idea. " Miles rushed to her bedside immediately, only later remembering to try to stop having a worried facial expression, and explained to her in almost monotone in the way that was expected of him,

" I decided that it wouldn't be fair to allow you to escape punishment from us for treating us like lowly subordinates. Enjoy your stay at the hospital, because when you've fully recovered, you're going to become Princess Alicia's slave. And if you wish to avoid the torment of even worse punishment, I suggest that you do what she says. Now then, since we've all ensured your survival, we'll leave you alone. I'll _make sure_ we find the culprit who gave you that wound and make him pay with his life! "

With that, the members of the Suppression Squad left the room, with Fiona feeling awkward about the knowledge that they seemed unaware of the true reason she had been injured, and not in any hurry to tell them. She noticed how worried Miles was about her, and the last thing he needed was even more reason to be afraid for her safety, as confusing as it was that he was. Scourge had told her a while ago that Miles was the biggest softie of the group deep down, but it was only now that she realized he was right.

The others on the other hand, didn't look like they'd be sympathetic to her at all if they knew the truth, and she was worried they would only ridicule her irrational decision, particularly Alicia, who would probably call it an overreaction to Scourge breaking up with her and think she was pathetic. At the same time, though, she didn't entirely want them all to leave, and being left all alone for the entirety of her hospital stay made her feel abandoned, as irrational as she knew that feeling was. Logically, she should be thankful that a group of evil twins were leaving her alone, especially considering that she just gave the Freedom Fighters an apology letter. The only thing that kept her stay from being completely unbearable was what happened several hours later, at 8:00 at night, and it was all thanks to Miles.

Miles was tossing and turning at night in his bed thinking about Fiona being bored in the hospital with nothing to focus on but pain, full of flashbacks about all the times that he had been in the same situation. There were many times when he was young and alone where he was incapacitated for days with nothing to do, and just thinking about Fiona reminded him of those dark times in the worst possible way. While at first he tried to deny it and insist to himself that she deserved it for being a disloyal person, eventually his sympathy triggering unending flashbacks became unbearable to him, and he jumped out of bed that night fed up with it, full of a new determination to fix the problem of boredom Fiona was suffering from.

Trying to think of something she would be allowed to use and conveniently use for long periods of time in the hospital, Miles decided against a CD Player because being used all day would drain the batteries too quickly, forcing him to inconveniently make several trips to the hospital in a row for her just to give it more batteries for her, not to mention he'd have to figure out in the CD store which CDs she might even appreciate to begin with. He didn't want to make incorrect assumptions and choose the wrong ones.

He obviously couldn't give her a violin, something that required both musical talent she might not have and the ability to stand up, and a piano was also out of the question. He also had no idea what kind of books she would like, and he really wanted to go to her already having something she'd get to occupy lots of time with, because he was already taking a huge risk by secretly sneaking out of Alicia's castle late at night just to spend hours getting something from a store and bringing it to Fiona, the last thing he needed was to risk things further by forcing himself to make even more visits without them knowing. Of course, they couldn't know because he didn't want them to think he was even more sympathetic to her than they already knew he was, when they were already annoyed about it as it stood.

Eventually, as Miles thought about the various things that he had fun with aside from music-related things and books, he soon remembered the arcade machines he spent so many hours enjoying himself with. Obviously he couldn't bring one of them to Fiona, but thinking about that reminded him of the existence of handhelds, things he saw one time passing by them in the toy store with a 12-year-old Scourge who informed him that they let people play video games wherever they wanted, provided that they bought a game and recharging device separately. He realized that such devices would be enough to give Fiona something to keep her mind off things for however long it would take for her back to heal, and as embarrassing as it would be for him to go to a toy store with his reputation, he had no choice but to do so.

He opened the window of his bedroom in the castle and stealthily flew out of it with his spinning tails in the more quiet flight method he had, and remembering the layout of the Acorn capital city, he made his way to the nearest mall where he knew there was a store that could sell such things. Once there, seeing that the store was still open but thankfully had no one except for a store clerk and uniformed employees in there, Miles slowed down from his blisteringly fast speed running through the mall and awkwardly made his way into the store, feeling very self-conscious and nervous as he was immediately the center of attention. Against his will, he was reminded of some painful early memories of a 4-year-old him being shouted at and kicked out of stores for having a second tail, with the store owner saying he was an eyesore who was, " bad for business. "

One of the employees of the store, who was a teenaged male squirrel Moebian wearing glasses and a blue vest uniform with a name tag of Wally on it, walked up to him in confusion and asked him, " W-Want any help finding what you're looking for? " clearly nervous as he was well-aware of Miles' fiery temper and powers. Like any Moebian, he didn't have the best opinion of Miles, but knew well enough to stay polite rather than provoke him with the expected insults.

Miles sighed and reluctantly said trying to sound more intelligent than he was feeling at the moment, " Yes. Considering I have absolutely no idea what exactly to look for or where to look, I-I suppose it would be convenient to have someone with me who does. I-I'm searching for one of those arcade machines you can carry around wherever you want? A-And if I remember correctly, he told me they need a recharging device for their batteries and they don't come with games already in them, so I need those, too. It's not actually for me, it's for an ally who's stuck at the hospital with a back wound. Most video games are pretty simple and short in my experience, so is there any game here that she'd feel like continuing to play for the week or so that she's recovering with nothing to do? N-Not that I care or anything, I-I'm just following orders from someone else. I have money in my boots that could cover the costs, I'm sure, and if they don't, I shall return to pay the rest of it as soon as physically possible. "

There was a brief confused silence from the employee, who was no doubt reacting to the fact that Miles was clearly only familiar with arcade games and the like and was awkwardly trying to buy things he had no understanding of, and for an ally that was no doubt the former queen of Moebius that the news wasted no time in reporting on being brought to the hospital thanks to Alicia. Trying to speak as soon as possible to avoid any possible anger from the clueless child, the employee said with a nervous smile, " I-It'll cost over a hundred dollars for all of that combined, but I've heard you're a ' man of your word, ' you've kept this kind of promise before, so you're probably not lying here. Not that it'd matter anyways. Don't worry, I know exactly what she'd want, come with me. "

Miles followed the employee afterwards, still feeling awkward and self-conscious and trying to hide it with the expected expression of condescending exasperation hiding the fact that he was nervous just at interacting with a stranger at all. The only thing comforting about his situation was the fact that said stranger was very clearly intimidated by him, reinforcing his belief that he needed to have a fearsome reputation to keep people he didn't know from being abusive to him and refusing to even let him give them the pay they had a right to just out of disgust with him.

After what felt like an eternity of walking down the aisles of the store, with Miles trying to avoid complaining since he knew it wasn't the employee's fault that he couldn't move at super speed like he could, they finally stopped in front of a glass window containing electronics that the employee unlocked in front of him. The employee handed Miles a rectangular device with two screens on it and several buttons with a plus-shaped thing on the left side of it and two flip-switches, and slightly pulled out of it a long narrow black thing explaining to him with a confident smile,

" This'll do the job well as a handheld gaming device. The stylus sticking out of it here is basically used for its gimmick where you can touch the bottom screen to do things in a game you couldn't do as easily with buttons. " Miles could only respond with a more normal-sounding response of, " Oh, okay, cool, " too confused and stunned at just seeing things that were related to gaming that went beyond the arcade to even try to act the way he was expected to.

The employee on the other hand, still felt pressured to try to avoid offending Miles, to the point where he didn't tell him what the handheld device was called because it might only make the kid self-conscious and embarrassed of how he needed to be told something that was surely very well-known, and he couldn't figure out how to tell him of such common knowledge without being interpreted as patronizing by him. So he kept silent on the matter, with Miles reading the words, " Nintendo DS, " on the device and having a completely wrong interpretation of how it was pronounced. He couldn't help but notice the confused insecure look on Miles' face where an expression of annoyance once was, and how he was putting the back of the DS so close to his face in an effort to read the text on it, making him wonder if the rumors about Miles needing glasses for so many years was true.

" And here's the recharging device, she'll know what to do. It sounds like you want a longer game for her, so I'd recommend this, " the employee said, showing Miles the recharging device for the DS in one hand and in another, a square device with a gray metal square border around it and a white picture of a black dragon-like monster with blurry text on it that probably stated the name of the game. Unfortunately for him, the employee put it in the DS before he could even attempt to squint at the name and read it for himself, not that it mattered to him that much.

" It's an RPG, so it'll take a long time to fully complete its main adventure, and there'll be lots of fun things for her to do, " the employee said casually, before looking nervous at realizing he made Miles embarrassed at the third term in his sentence. Confused and awkward, Miles asked quietly without thinking, " What's an RPG? " before wondering if the employee would even be able to explain it to him. Naturally, the employee was rather unsure of how he could explain such a complicated concept to someone so naïve and innocent when it came to video games to the point of only being familiar with a small 30-year-old niche of them, so he answered awkwardly as he handed the DS and recharger to him,

" Well, um, it's a game about fighting monsters and defeating them, and there are lots of different types of monsters that require different types of attacks to get rid of them easier, so there's strategy involved in it and it's constantly changing things up with new monsters and areas to explore. It involves going on an adventure in a fictional world full of magic and an antagonist to fight in the end, so unlike an arcade game, it actually has an end to it when you play it for long enough. That's basically the gist of it for an RPG. But this game in particular is unique for Role Playing Games because you can actually capture those same monsters and use them to fight, and that's how you fight in that game. What matters is that it's a long game and she'll love it. "

With that, he closed the glass case, and Miles smiled awkwardly nodding in response as he followed him back to the cash register of the store, finding the new information intriguing, but ultimately thinking the game might be too complicated for himself to handle if he tried to play it, and being ashamed of how little he knew. When they got to the cash register at last, the DS, game cartridge, and recharger were all scanned and put in a bag, and Miles reached into his boots and sure enough, paid the store for what he wanted from them. In fact, he paid them more than enough, and when the cashier tried to hand him his change, he said awkwardly, " I-I have no use for that, " and left the store with what he had paid for, something that barely surprised the people in front of him who had already heard rumors of the more noble member of the Suppression Squad doing that exact same thing before. He didn't like to steal if he didn't have to, and that one fact about him was one of the only things the general public respected about him.

As he made his way through the city spinning his tails above him flying over the dark car-filled streets, gripping the bag in his hands as tightly as he could just in case, he was still filled with an anxious worry that he still wasn't going to be doing enough for her. He was mildly frustrated with himself for caring so much about someone who before that point was nothing more than Scourge's no doubt temporary girlfriend, someone who just showed up out of nowhere and started bossing him and his friends around as if she belonged with them. He hated how just seeing her with a life-threatening injury had completely turned things around and caused him to desperately want to make things better for her because she had suffered enough. He knew that if he was stuck lying in bed for a long time recovering from a painful stab wound, he'd be desperate for something to do as well, because the only past-time he'd be able to find in her situation would be to think about things in his life that would only depress and upset him. He couldn't stand the idea of letting someone else suffer through something he had such personal experience with, because just thinking about it vividly reminded him of when he went through the exact same thing.

As he started to fly over a popular ice cream store that still had its lights on in it, he eventually decided that it would only be right if he got Fiona some ice cream, too. He landed on his feet carefully in front of the store and cautiously walked inside trying to wear the annoyed expression on his face that he was so known for having in a desperate attempt to hide how self-conscious and unsafe he felt, knowing that the minute he would enter the store, he'd be the center of attention. Of course, he was right, being the only customer at the time, an infamous two-tailed weather mage, and holding a bag from a certain store at that implying that he had recently bought something from it. That last fact at least put the store clerk's mind at ease, as she knew that he was alone and fully willing to pay for services that he could easily threaten into getting for free.

After walking up to the counter with the bunny Moebian store clerk, Miles said awkwardly, " One large ice cream sundae, please, " trying to hide his social anxiety and awkwardness with a serious expression. Just like the previous store employee he interacted with, the store clerk in the ice cream shop stayed polite to him and treated him just like a normal customer, soon giving him what he requested and smiling at being handed a 20-dollar bill for her efforts.

Unlike with the video game store where he had to deal with being reminded of his own ignorance, the hard part about the ice cream store was simply waiting impatiently for the ice cream to be given to him. Once he was handed the closed container with it, he said, " Thank you, " briefly put his bag down to pay her for her services for the sake of having an easier time sleeping at night, and left the store with the bag and the ice cream in a yellow blur, speeding out of there with his tails spinning behind him and his feet slightly hovering above the sidewalk.

Having finally finished getting everything he wanted to give her, Miles finally entered the hospital at 8:00 at night, and while it was " past visiting hours, " and he wasn't allowed to bring her the items he had with him, it didn't take him much effort to get the rules bent for him. All he had to do was glare at the hospital staff in front of Fiona's door growling furiously as golden electricity started sparking out of his body, and the lightning kitsune immediately got his way, much to his relief.

When he came into Fiona's hospital room, the injured red fox girl was stunned at seeing the great big smile on his face, and what he was carrying in his hands. He had a bag from a store in one hand, and something delicious-looking in another. " Hey, Fi! I hope you like ice cream! I figured you had a hard day, so you earned it, " he explained to her bringing a vanilla sundae with chocolate sauce and a spoon, with a bright smile full of childlike innocence calling her by the nickname he heard Scourge give her in his excellent mood. It was as if he was so happy with himself for the good deeds he was about to do that day that it put him in a good mood for once. After placing the ice cream container on her bed as she sat up for it with some difficulty, Miles pulled the contents of the store bag out of it. In his right hand was a small electronic device the shape of a blue rectangle, and in his left hand was a gray square thing with a plug on the other end.

" What's that? " Fiona asked before starting to eat the delicious ice cream, almost struck speechless by the boy's unusual kindness. " Well, it's called a, Nin-ten-doo, Diss, " he told her nervously, speaking more slowly with his eyes really close to the back of the handheld, looking unsure of himself.

Fiona gave him a confused look and cracked a smile in spite of herself, finding his mispronunciation cute, while at the same time wondering how much education he really got if he was unable to pronounce those words. Scourge had been unusually reluctant to tell her everything when it came to Miles, but one of the few things he alluded to, besides the vague, " He had a rough past, " was that, " the kid didn't exactly get to go to school. " Embarrassed, Miles looked around the room and scratched the back of his neck while lying nervously, " T-T-That's how it's pronounced in Moebius, obviously! "

Miles gave her the DS smiling in excitement again, and explained, " It's really fun! It's like an arcade machine that you can carry around in your hands! And it has a game in it called, uh… " He struggled for a bit with the DS before pushing at the top of it nervously and saw the cartridge finally pop out, allowing him to read the name of it squinting with his face right up to it as he held it in front of him, and said to Fiona's amusement, " Poke-mon, Wuh-hit-eh… W-White. Yeah, Poke-mon White. " He quickly pushed the cartridge back into the DS slot with a self-conscious expression, before continuing to explain,

" And this is a recharger for its batteries. I'm lucky I managed to find these things, since I've never looked for anything _like_ them before… " He seemed depressed at the end of his sentence, his eyes downcast, and Fiona wondered why he was having that reaction. She always thought Miles was all about trying to be mature and sophisticated, but here he was showing a more naïve and youthful side to him, acting like an excited little kid, almost indistinguishable from Tails. And considering his age, it did make sense, but his depressed reaction made her wonder if he wished he could just be that way all the time. Did he want to have a proper childhood? Did he ever really get to experience one? Scourge mentioned that he tried to give him one, but as usual when it came to Miles, he wasn't willing to tell her more about his experiences with him than she needed to know.

She was closer to the truth than she realized, as Miles couldn't help but reflect on how much of a proper childhood he missed out on, having arbitrarily stayed away from toys being nervous and uncomfortable at trying to play with them, as if he would be severely punished if he tried and shouldn't actually have them. He knew that logically, he should've gotten himself a handheld gaming device too if they were so much fun, but for some irrational reason, he couldn't bring himself to. Buying it rather than stealing it was drawing enough attention as it was without the fact that he was buying ice cream and video games by himself, two things people would expect him to look down on.

By this point, Miles was sitting on her hospital bed beside her with his legs crossed, facing away from her with a depressed look on his face. Finally, after a couple seconds of silent reflection from the both of them, he looked her in the eyes again as he said, " Don't think too much of this, but, well, I didn't think it would be fair that you'd have to spend your entire stay at the hospital doing absolutely nothing. You're never going to have this much free time again, so it'd be a waste if all that free time was, well, wasted! And I know from experience that if I was stuck in bed from an injury like you, I'd be _desperate_ for something to do. So here. Play this game whenever you want. It'll give you something to do while you recover. "

After smiling at Fiona again, this time in a wistful nervous way, he became self-conscious of how kind he was being to someone he was supposed to hate, and looked at her with irritation crossing his arms. He said defensively, " Don't get me wrong, it's not like I like you or anything. You're a traitor to the Freedom Fighters! I don't have any reason to respect someone with no sense of loyalty, and no concept of gratitude to the only people who care about you, and I will make that increasingly clear in the future! I just got _reminded_ of when that kind of injury happened to me… Don't ask. _That's_ why I wanted to help you. Don't expect me to be some sort of weak pushover that you can manipulate to be nice just because I had a moment of weakness. I'm not gonna be nice to you every second of the day. I'll be acting just like I usually do around them. "

Fiona felt incredibly hurt at being harshly reminded with bitter hatred of the reason she got herself in the hospital in the first place, her shame over betraying her only friends. She had to force herself not to cry, looking annoyed and blinking irregularly to fight the tears back, and suddenly became a lot more thankful that she had delicious ice cream to enjoy; two large vanilla scoops with chocolate sauce in a gray wide container that was about as cold as the ice cream it contained. The taste of the ice cream was more than worth the occasional ice cream headache, and it certainly tasted a lot better than the hospital food she would have to deal with for quite a while.

Soon, she began to wonder why _Miles_ hated her for being a traitor, and asked, " Why do _you_ care that I did that to them? One, I thought you hated the Freedom Fighters. You called them self-righteous hypocrites, remember? And two, you betrayed Scourge. So clearly you think it can be justified. "

Miles' reaction to her confronting him was also very intriguing. For the first part of what she said, he looked away from her with a melancholic expression, as if he was ashamed and embarrassed of what he said about the Freedom Fighters. And the minute she mentioned him betraying Scourge, he squeezed his eyes shut with his ears drooping down wincing with even more shame than before, as if he was hurt by just being reminded of betraying him, before forcing an irritated expression and replying,

" Shut up. I know that because of what I _had_ to do to Scourge, I don't come off as loyal to you, someone who doesn't know me _at all,_ but when it gets right down to it, the most valuable thing in the world to me is loyalty, something _you_ know nothing about, because if you don't stay loyal, your allies will turn against you and you'll end up losing _everything_ you have. All Scourge ever cared about was making himself happy, but what he was too immature to understand was that loyalty is _necessary_ to _keep_ happiness, and that's what caused most of his problems. If he treated his friends like actual friends rather than ego boosters or slaves, he'd be a lot better off. And it's n-not like I _sympathize_ with the _Freedom Fighters_ or anything, s-so d-don't go around saying that I do! I still don't trust them, I still don't buy that they're as good as they say they are… "

He looked depressed again, and sighed heavily, before being self-conscious again and telling her reluctantly, " My point is, I don't like you, Fiona. I shouldn't need to explain why. But in spite of that, well, I knew that if I just left you here, left to do nothing but lie there in pain miserable and depressed, I-I wouldn't be able to sleep at night… Don't tell anyone I admitted that! I have enough rumors about me as it is. "

With that, he got off the bed saying compassionately, " Feel better, alright? I have to get home before they start wondering where I am. " Seeing that Fiona was done her ice cream sundae, he moved one of the DS' flip-switches to no avail not realizing it was the volume switch, and then moved the second flip-switch to successfully turn on the DS for her, smiling a little, and placed it in her hands saying to her, " Try it out for a little before sleeping tonight. Enjoy! " He then left the room with the ice cream container, ending his last visit to her hospital room.

After that, she spent the entirety of her recovery almost alone, only having company when a doctor or nurse went up to her, having nothing to do but play the game Miles was kind enough to give her. She was reluctant at first, not thinking of herself as the type of person to have that hobby, but ended up appreciating it really quickly, and it ended up making her stay at the hospital a lot more tolerable.

Other than that, the only eventful thing that happened to her there, was that a policeman asked her to describe the appearance of the one who had attacked her, only for her to lie nervously, " I don't remember what he looked like. H-He just snuck up on me, I guess. " As a result of that, and the fingerprints on the kitchen knife never getting any matches, no one was ever the wiser.

When Fiona finally had her back wound recover to the point where it wasn't painful trying to move her back at all, Alicia was called by the hospital and the Suppression Squad brought Fiona to her castle before she knew it, and while she was happy to be free of her hospital room, she wasn't looking forward to what was to come. Miles may have still felt sympathy for her, but that wasn't going to prevent her from receiving orders to do all the work that none of them wanted to do. She was essentially on the bottom rung of the Suppression Squad, when she didn't even want to be in it to begin with.

As soon as she reached the castle and was brought inside, she was ordered by an annoyed and judgmental Alicia, " Good to see you've recovered, Fiona. Now bow to me! " Holding back a sigh of reluctance, Fiona did what she was told and kneeled to the floor bowing to her, one hand on top of her knee, and after that, she was handed what looked like a typical French maid outfit. " W-What? " she said in confusion, and Alicia explained with a sly smile,

" This will be the uniform you'll be expected to wear as a symbol of your status. You're at the bottom rung, so you'd better get used to it. Your first order of business is to clean the upstairs toilet. I figure that's the best place to start when it comes to punishing you for disrespecting a royal figure. So change clothes in the washroom and start on your first order. "

Fiona was more than a little displeased with what she was being expected to wear, but since there wasn't any other options she was given for clothes, she had no choice but to agree to it. After all, her hospital gown wasn't acceptable for regular wear, and the clothes she wore before that were too stained for her liking, and when it came to outfits meant to humiliate her, the one she was given was the best case scenario. At least she still looked good in it, as her reflection in the mirror revealed to her, although in her circumstances, that didn't matter all that much when she didn't have Scourge around. The only guys around Fiona were ones she didn't want to take interest in her anyways. At first, she did essentially what a maid was expected to do, as well as some other tasks that involved personally tending to Alicia herself; the most memorable example included her having to file and clip her toenails for her.

But as time passed, the members of the Suppression Squad began to give her orders more fitting of Miles, telling her to participate in their stealing and their " tough on crime " street-fighting. This made her conflicted, as on the one hand, she really didn't feel right about being just as bad a criminal as the rest of them when she had already given the Freedom Fighters an apology letter, and would've preferred to just be with them. But on the other hand, it wasn't humiliating like doing the cleaning or being Alicia's personal servant, and she found herself a lot less depressed as a result, doing more of what she was used to from her life before and after the Freedom Fighters.

As she expected, Miles comforted her whenever he was alone with her and could get away with it, putting his hand on her shoulder, hugging her at times, and even insisting to her that her situation wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be. He told her calmly as she did the dishes a week later, " I'm not trying to insult you with this, but your ego is making it out to be worse than it actually is. There's nothing bad about helping out Alicia. You're making it up to people that you had done nothing but annoy and boss around, and sure, you might not personally like all of us, but that doesn't make your assistance any less of a good accomplishment. It's not a bad thing to get a healthy dose of humility. Not too much, I mean, I don't want you insulting yourself a lot or anything like... " Upon realizing what he just said, he facepalmed and said in embarrassment with a frustrated look, " Oh, damn it, don't read anything into that, " as Fiona smiled knowingly and said nothing.

Miles continued calmly being awkward and depressed for the first sentence, " It's just that I, know someone, who is a little bit too critical of himself, and it only makes him miserable... My point is, just try to enjoy your life for what it is. You've got a steady supply of food and water that keep you healthy, a warm place to sleep at night with a roof over your head, you've got clothes on your back and live with a group of people supporting you that you can trust not to injure you. That might not sound like much, but believe me, that alone is something that not everyone has the luxury of. Take me for example. I didn't always have all of this, and it was a miracle that I managed to get it. "

Fiona responded unhappily with frustration, " You're talking as if I have friends. You're the only one who treats me right, and you won't even admit that you like me! No one even respects me over here! They tell me to clean the toilets and gutters! They already used to have servants in this castle for that stuff, but no, let's just fire 'em and get me as a free all-purpose slave doing EVERYTHING around here! Face it, Miles, no one loves me over here. I'm the dirt under their shoes. "

Confronted with an undeniable fact and embarrassed at how obvious his compassion for her was, Miles was silent with an uneasy expression, his eyes darting around the kitchen, before saying, " I-I, well… okay, there's no denying that, but that could change over time. They may not like you now, due to personal grudges with who you used to be to them, but the more time you spend around them, the more that'll change. They're going to get used to you eventually, and after that, it's only a matter of time before they start appreciating the good qualities you, I mean, that they might view you as having… " He finished being embarrassed once again with himself.

Miles sighed in annoyance with all of his slip-ups, and said to her with a serious expression and a quiet voice of concern, " L-Look, listen to me, alright? I'm giving you an order now. I want you to make a list of everything good about your life here. Every tiny individual thing you can think of, gets its own number on the list. Don't exclude anything no matter what excuse you have. You'll be surprised how large that list will get! And every time you're dissatisfied with your life here, look at that list and see how much you have to be thankful for. Works better than you think. "

Over time, the members of the Suppression Squad ended up getting used to Fiona being with them and began to think of her as just another member of the gang, getting over their past grudges with her as a natural result of that, as much as some of them - like Alicia - were reluctant to accept it. Fiona had to accept the fact that she would be staying with them for a long time, possibly the rest of her life, and while she would feel more at peace if she was spending her time with the Freedom Fighters accomplishing good with her life instead, she had no faith that they would let her, even if they ever saw her again. She was already used to breaking the law with Scourge, and from her past, so participating in what her new gang was doing was nothing new to her. She was able to shrug it off and push the guilt to the back of her mind, although her self-hatred over being a traitor still remained a big problem for her that Miles learned he was only making worse by reminding her of it every time he denied liking her.

Another week later, Miles had gone over to her as she was putting the dishes in the dishwasher after dinner was done, but as usual, he was trying to act as apathetic and nonchalant about it as possible, saying, " So how's it been? Not that I care, traitor, I'm just bored, that's all. " Irritated, Fiona grumbled to him, " Are you ever gonna get bored of calling me that? Are you seriously trying to tell me you hate me like they do when you're going out of your way to give me some company? "

Miles replied awkwardly, " Well… " looking back and forth scratching the back of his neck. " Well, don't bother if you're just gonna give me the same insults, " Fiona said bitterly, in a bad mood as she used a washcloth to wipe down the dishes in a sink with the tap turned on. Annoyed at being interrupted and being spoken to in a dismissive way, Miles said angrily, " Why shouldn't I bother?! You've already proven you have no sense of loyalty, and then you act like you're just a victim when I tell you why I hate you! "

Set off by his response, she turned right around to face him as she yelled at him suddenly, " Then I hate you too! Are you happy now?! Why'd you go out of your way to give me company then?! " and turned back to the dishwasher as she ranted, " I'm so sick of this bipolar behavior from you! One moment you're going out of your way to be nice to me and the next you're calling me a horrible person who doesn't deserve any kind of compassion! Which is it, Miles?! Do you hate me or not?! Of course you can't just be nice, you have to be a jerk, don't you, even when no one else is watching! Are you lying to me? Just messing with my head? Is that why you're so inconsistent? Why don't you just be honest with me and admit that you hate me like everyone else who knows I exist? Why don't we just agree that we hate each other from now on and you get out of my hair? If you really don't give a rat's ass about me, then just quit pretending already and LEAVE ME ALONE! "

Miles flinched and backed away as she shouted the last few words, and gasped with his pupils shrunken in fear. There was a silence as Miles stared at her with a shocked and devastated expression, with a look of hurt and betrayal in his eyes. He couldn't bring himself to say anything in response, no matter how much he wanted to, because he knew it would only come out with his voice being choked up. But at the same time, he knew it was pointless trying to take any further action to cover up how he really felt because his expression gave it all away. She noticed it almost immediately looking back at him at the end, and upon reflecting on what she had said, she realized how angry she had been, and how loud she had been yelling. " I'm sorry! " she blurted out looking regretful about making him cry, terrified of losing the sympathy of the only real friend she had.

While a part of Miles just wanted to run away and end the humiliation of being seen in a moment of weakness, for some strange reason, he just couldn't make himself leave. It felt like he was rooted to the spot, paralyzed in fear, in denial of just what he had caused, the instant it had dawned on him that he had caused an angry rant directed at him, from someone he had been very compassionate to in spite of a past grudge with her. It didn't feel like it was fair, his kindness being rewarded with hatred, but at the same time, her reasoning made so much sense that it resonated with him and forced him to feel like she was the one in the right, that it was all his fault for feeling obligated to deny the existence of his compassion. He felt betrayed that she would actually turn on him like that, but at the same time, he felt sorry for her throughout her entire rant, and he could do nothing but blame himself.

As he started to cover his eyes in shame wiping the tears away as fast as he could, his bottom lip quivered against his will and he began to slightly tremble as everything just overwhelmed him. He sat down at the kitchen table chair humiliated and buried his face in his arms, his head facing the top of the table as he started to gasp and sniffle. Feeling extremely self-conscious at all the attention being solely on him, his only comfort was the fact that Fiona apologized at all, and just like he had hoped, she ended up trying to comfort him.

Ashamed of what she had done and trying to keep from crying herself, Fiona sat down right beside him at the table and exclaimed, " Please don't hate me! You're the only real friend I've got! M-Miles, you're all I have left! You're all I'll ever have…You're my best friend... "

There was a silence from both of them as the significance of that final sentence sank in, and if he hadn't been feeling so miserable at the moment, he would've smiled. Unfortunately, it was physically impossible for him to do one at the moment, but he could at least weakly nod in response to it.

Fiona smiled nervously saying gently, " Okay? I-I admit it! That's how much you mean to me… " After some hesitation, she awkwardly put her hand on his shoulder, and he raised his head to look at her sadly before burying it in her shoulder, hugging her for comfort on sheer impulse. Fortunately for him, this was exactly what she wanted, and she returned the hug in an instant, caressing the back of his head comforting him like he was a frightened child. Seeing that Miles was in no hurry to let go of her, Fiona decided to humor him and not point it out as she continued to hold him like it was no big deal at all.

She continued, " I-I admit it's because I don't have any other options, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate all the times you've been nice to me. For one, my stay at the hospital would've been unbearable if it weren't for you! You didn't have to go through all the trouble of getting me that game to play, and you could've easily been cruel and not given me a recharger for it. Then I would've only gotten to play it for a day or two before having to spend the rest of the week in utter boredom. And you didn't need to give me ice cream along with it, and you didn't need to convince your friends to save my life. I'm so, so, SO sorry I snapped at you like that! It wasn't just you I was stressed out about… Can't we just be good friends instead of you denying that you like me? Can we just be secret friends when the others aren't watching? Can you, not lie to me about it anymore? "

There was a silence again as she waited for him to make his decision. Miles realized that by making the choice to hug her instead of running away and claiming he would never forgive her, he had already made it clear that he wanted them to be friends no matter how much he wanted to hide it. There was no point in continuing with the charade when it would only get her angry with him again.

After some brief consideration, and thinking, " _Well, I made the choice to hug her…_ " he nodded in response to her pleas, and tried to savor being held close to someone sympathetic to him, being as close to her as he could get away with as she comforted him until the tears finally stopped. When at last he returned to breathing normally as opposed to gasping and sniffling, he smiled nervously at her, still embarrassed and self-conscious, but at the same time, it felt good knowing that he had made peace with her and finally accepted her as a new friend. She smiled right back, letting go of him at last, and for the first time since she had left the hospital, she was happy.

Unfortunately, her depressed feelings from before were still very much alive, mainly arising from the humiliation and annoyance at having to personally tend to Alicia and be a castle servant, and from the fact that Miles was her only real friend there at first, causing her to feel very alone. Fortunately for her, Alicia did eventually start to warm up to her, as a natural result of spending so much time around her from being tended to by her in the first place, forcing her to get used to her and become more comfortable around her. As she started to trust her without thinking, she ended up getting into the habit of talking to her at length about what had been bothering her lately, and eventually starting just speaking about whatever was on her mind. This was mainly as a result of the fact that she was spending so much time with Fiona every day and ended up getting fed up with the long awkward silences.

Fiona soon went from simply listening passively to Alicia to actually responding to her, in a manner that was favorable to her at that, and they soon began to look more like friends having a normal conversation. This alone helped to significantly alleviate the negative feelings she had around her status, and Alicia growing to like how she interacted with her as a friend was what influenced her decision to make her less of a mere servant in the first place, complete with letting her wear what she wanted and ditching her maid outfit from before. The entire reason she accepted her presence in the first place was the idea that she'd be able to get revenge, but over time, perhaps after Fiona had cleaned their toilet for the umpteenth time, she ended up forgetting all about it. It was possible that she believed she had suffered enough, whether she knew it or not.

On Fiona's side of things, she didn't seem to hate the idea of staying with the Suppression Squad anymore now that they had become more amicable to her, with Patch being the next one to gain more of a respect and appreciation for her. With a sense of attachment to the group that she previously didn't even want to be a part of, she began to wonder if she would even feel right about leaving them for the Freedom Fighters if they did say they wanted her back, since she would only be abandoning people who supported her again.

There was also the fact that she didn't think she deserved to be accepted back there anyways, might feel out of place, and would probably be treated as such. After all the progress she had made with the Suppression Squad members, going back to being treated with suspicion and resentment would be a major downgrade, and she didn't know if she'd be able to take it, or if it would send her spiralling back into depression. Even if the Freedom Fighters did believe that she was sorry and even felt sorry for her, that couldn't possibly erase the suspicion they had towards her. They might never really forgive her, and while she thought it would be the right thing to do to come back to them and make it up to them, she knew that if they didn't treat her like a friend no matter how long she spent with them, she'd be miserable.

A month after Fiona was forced to join the Suppression Squad – and two weeks after she had been subtly accepted as more than just their servant – there was a rough knocking on the door of Alicia's castle, along with the doorbell being rung multiple times. Alicia, who was busy taking care of Miles who had a fever at the time, called out, " Somebody get that! "

Boomer was in his lab, while Patch was in the kitchen finishing off the brownie and poutine they had bought from an ice cream restaurant, leaving Fiona on the living room couch as the one to answer the door. This was nothing new for her, as she had been expected to be the one answering the door since she had been forced into the gang. Every mundane task one could think of that no one else wanted to bother doing, she had been expected to do, and that wasn't going to change any time soon.

She opened the door looking bored and tired, only to gasp and take a step back in surprise. " S-Sally! " she exclaimed, staring at her former leader in complete shock. Sally had looked determined and angry at first, but after almost a split-second, it dawned on her who she was looking at and she exclaimed, " Fiona! " in a tone of voice that she could've sworn was relief.

Sally wasn't the only person at the door; with the exception of Tails and Rotor, all of the Freedom Fighters were standing beside and behind her, with generally the same surprised and worried expressions on their faces. Even Nicole was there, which was a godsend considering her convenient ability to somehow tell lies apart from the truth, which would allow her to prove to them that a former traitor wasn't being dishonest.

Sally took a second examining her as she adjusted to the fact that she was there. Fiona was wearing a different outfit from the one she last saw her in, although it ultimately looked very similar to it with the exception being that she no longer had multiple belts on over her black tight pants. Other than that, she looked generally the same, with a black sleeveless tank top, a yellow bow high up in her long reddish-brown hair, and black boots. The biggest difference from how she remembered her was the sad and nervous look on her face, and the Freedom Fighters were torn about whether she was unhappy because she was still regretful, or because she had gotten caught doing something wrong.

Finally, the silence was broken when Bunnie exclaimed in relief, " Finally! We've been looking for you! We came here to question the Suppression Squad on whether they had seen you anywhere. " Antoine added with an expression of dread, " Considering how much they hated you, we were thinking you might have been in trouble here. Some of us were worried that you had been _executed!_ "

Even Sonic, someone she had cheated on and lied to with his evil twin in the past, said in a somewhat frantic scolding tone, " You had us really worried with that letter! Going all the way to Moebius… You know how long it took for us to make a machine that could get us here? Yeah, yeah, I know, you told us not to go looking for ya, that doesn't matter if your life is on the line! You could've gotten yourself killed, or thrown in an Anti-Mobius prison, or tortured! You might not have cared about that, but we did! So you did some stupid things in the past, that doesn't mean we want that to happen to you. We could never hate you THAT much. "

Trying to hide unsuccessfully how worried she had been, Sally reluctantly admitted awkwardly trying to speak formally as usual, " Exactly. Even if you _did_ make some, _big_ mistakes, that doesn't mean we were going to feel right about not trying to help you here. The fact that you went through the trouble of apologizing helped, and, it meant a lot to us that you did that. It, was clear to us that you were extremely regretful in that letter, and going through some tough times, and I don't blame you for not thinking we'd be willing to, comfort you on it, but that's no reason to try and get yourself _killed!_ " She had to force back tears at saying the final sentence, blinking irregularly and staying strong the best that she could, and the resulting silence from her made that clear enough to her friends that Sonic knew to step in and ask for her,

" So if you're not in big trouble, why are you here? We heard Sally's evil twin order someone to get the door. A-Are you… " Fiona remained speechless with an unhappy and self-conscious expression the entire time her former friends were speaking to her until that point, when the weight of all her shame became almost impossible to bear. She was faced with the consequences of her actions, not just with being told that her letter had worried them, but because she was face to face with people she had seriously wronged in the past. And just when things seemed like they were working out perfectly for her, the last sentence Sonic said filled her with an almost panic-level of anxiety as she feared the consequences of them finding out her new status in life. She took a shaky breath and forced herself to admit nervously,

" I didn't have a choice. A-And I mean that literally. They found me in a city alley, well, injured, and most of them wanted to leave me there to die. Or at least that's what they told me afterwards, I was unconscious at the time. The only reason I'm still alive is because Miles felt sorry for me! " Stunned, Sally said in confusion, " Wait, really? Tails' evil twin felt sorry for someone? " She looked over at Nicole for confirmation, who nodded, confirming for her that she wasn't being lied to.

Fiona continued unhappily, " He had to cover it up in front of his friends by making up some other excuse for helping me, so he said to Alicia that the only way they could get their _revenge_ on me was to make sure I'd survive my injury. So they got me to the hospital, I recovered from my wound, and as soon as I did, I had to become Alicia's slave. Basically, that meant being her maid, and, personal servant, doing every chore in the house that nobody else wanted to do, and of course, no one in the gang really liked me, aside from Miles, who believe it or not, is not that bad once you get to know him! Between you and me, he's the softie of the gang. If it weren't for him reassuring me and trying to make me feel better, it would've been a _lot_ harder for me having to stay here with them. "

Nicole nodded once again and confirmed, " She's not lying, " and Antoine awkwardly admitted, " I learned that myself, actually. When I was forced to disguise myself as Patch for a year, Miles noticed how I was feeling _immediately_ , and, well, he was really nice to me. I don't know if that was just because he thought I was Patch, but he went out of his way to try to cheer me up every time he noticed I was nervous or upset, to the point of telling me to make a _list_ of everything good about my life at that point! " Fiona chimed in looking shocked, " He did that for me, too! " briefly getting everyone else's attention again to her chagrin. Antoine continued awkwardly,

" He volunteered to spend a lot of time alone with me without making me do anything wrong, bringing me to French restaurants or an arcade a couple times, and he didn't even get mad at me for not enjoying doing bad things! He outright said he could relate to my hesitation, and gave me some heartfelt advice on how to deal with it, and, deal with fear in general; he taught me how to hide it better. I don't know how I would've managed to put up with staying with them for an entire year of my life, living a lie, if that sweet kid wasn't there reassuring me… "

Once again, Nicole confirmed, " He's not lying, either! Although there's no reason he would, " more unnecessarily than last time. There was a silence as everyone let it all sink in, stunned that Miles could actually have any kind of heart, and that he could've actually done a lot to make Antoine a less judgmental and braver person, before Sonic broke the silence once again.

" Well, you don't have to be their slave anymore! You're coming home with us. I don't blame you if you don't think you've earned it, but that's no excuse to not at least try. It's about time you started trying to make it up to us. And don't worry, we'll get you out of here in a flash, " holding up to her a teleporter device in his hand with a grin at the final sentence before ending it off with a reassuring arm around her in a friendly way, " So you don't have to worry about a thing. After all, once we take ya home, they won't be able to come after ya, and even if they do, we'll fend them off like we always have! "

Hearing that caused Fiona to finally crack a smile, a genuine likable smile, for the first time around them in a long time. She still didn't really feel right about essentially ditching Miles along with the rest of " her " gang without even so much as saying goodbye, but she refused to let her irrational emotions get the better of her and get her making a huge mistake again. It was better in the long run for her to just go with the Freedom Fighters, who were better people to be around than the Suppression Squad anyway. " O-Okay, " she finally said nervously.

Sally replied, " Good, I was worried you would give us a harder time. Now obviously you're still in trouble from the last time you were a Freedom Fighter, so you'll be under constant supervision just in case. But considering what you've been through recently, and how you've, been feeling, I think you've been punished enough. We'll, uh, try to be polite to you when you're behaving, and, give you a chance, " once again trying to be formal in spite of how awkward she was feeling about what she was saying to a former traitor.

" I-I'm so sorry… " Fiona forced out sadly, her voice almost cracking in the process as she closed her eyes to avoid seeing anyone's reaction. The Freedom Fighters looked sympathetic at hearing that, as well as naturally being worried from being reminded that she might still be more than a little depressed about it. Fortunately for her, Sally was merciful enough to say in a reassuring and calm tone, " We know, we read your letter. We'll explain things to Tails for you. Just do what you're told and don't cause any trouble, and you'll make it up to us in no time. "

Fiona could only nod and weakly smile appreciatively in response, deciding that it might be safer to just keep her mouth shut most of the time just in case. She was lucky things were going to be that easy for her, and she could hardly keep herself from looking shocked at how Sally was willing to acknowledge her as once being a Freedom Fighter at all. It was such a stark contrast from her telling her earlier in bitter resentment that, " you were never a Freedom Fighter. " Just hearing those words again in her head was incredibly hurtful, and she had to close her eyes and unsuccessfully force herself not to get too upset with it, as Sonic used the teleporter to bring her along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters back to their home base in a flash of green light.

When the green light faded away, allowing Fiona to see where she had been brought to, she saw that she was in Tails and Rotor's lab with the Freedom Fighters with familiar-looking starposts connected to a large machine near her, and unfortunately, Tails was right across from her on the other side of the room. He gasped at seeing her, and she immediately closed her eyes and turned her head to look away with an incredibly sad expression, and tears finally escaped her eyes as she was overwhelmed with regret and shame. Just looking at Tails directly reminded her of her harsh treatment of him, and to her, he was essentially a personification of that self-loathing regret. Tails went from alarmed and on edge at seeing her, to feeling sorry for her upon seeing her tearful reaction to him, with him coming to the only conclusion there was about why she would be so upset.

Before either of them could say anything, Sally quickly interrupted Tails, " We'll explain everything to you in a second, " and ordered, " Rotor, get the ankle monitor. Nicole, escort her to her room, and stay with her! " With that, Fiona walked out of the lab after Rotor clasped the ankle monitor around her ankle, with Nicole holding onto her wrist following the orders she was given. Tails asked Sally in frantic confusion, " What's going on?! Is she feeling guilty? "

Sally sighed heavily, knowing exactly how he was going to end up reacting, and ordered, " Sonic, show him her letter, " with a reluctant tone of voice trying to cover it up with one of frustration. Sonic sped away in a blue blur, and almost instantly returned with a letter in his hand that Tails instantly recognized as having Fiona's handwriting. " From the selfish traitor?! " Tails responded sadly at seeing the first sentence above the rest of the letter.

" You may wanna sit down, " Sally advised seriously, and Tails slowly sat down on the chair of a desk in the lab, with a look of dread and concern as he read the rest of the letter in silence. Sonic put his hand on his shoulder and rubbed his back comfortingly at one point as he read all of it, and when he was done, Sonic hugged him immediately to reassure him.

Tails said with a cracking voice returning the hug, " Is that why you guys were going there in the first place? Is that why you told me and Rotor to make that machine and a new guest room for the castle? Is that what you weren't telling me about? " Sally told him calmly as Sonic, Antoine and Bunnie stared at him in sympathy,

" We didn't want to tell you Fiona was coming back just to go to that world and end up not finding her alive at all. We're lucky that the Suppression Squad showed mercy to her and only made her work for them. If it weren't for Miles having a soft side, she would've… " Tails was shocked and confused at hearing that Miles of all people felt sorry for Fiona, when he always appeared on the surface to be completely heartless and nothing more, but upon realizing what might have happened to Fiona if it weren't for him, he was distracted from that train of thought from his worrying. " Would've died? " Tails asked sadly with a quiet voice of dread.

Sonic explained to him, " All she really wanted to tell us was that they found her wounded and unconscious in an alley. She didn't say who did it or what exactly happened to her, and since she's okay now, it doesn't really matter. What matters is, she's still just as sorry now as she was when she wrote the letter, so it'd be a good idea to not remind her of how much she's screwed up, as we're going to be punishing her enough as it is. "

Tails could only nod with a sad expression and respond, " I won't, " and wondered as he followed everyone out of the lab if he was allowed to at least give her a hug and show her some comfort. He would never stop being upset at remembering what she did – none of the Freedom Fighters would – but as time passed, they would at the very least be able to think about her without remembering it, and end up forgiving her for it and trusting her again. But for the present, she was in an even worse situation than she was with the Suppression Squad. She was at the bottom rung, and would be forced to do all the dirty work that no one else wanted to do. The only difference was this time, it'd be called " community service " rather than " being a slave. "

Sally humored Fiona in her new room for the first time, reassuring her with her hand on her shoulder as she sat on her new bed depressed, " I know how you must be feeling right now, with the ankle monitor and being supervised, but we really do trust you. It's just for formality's sake. The general public would get worried if they knew that the Freedom Fighters were so willing to trust you again. That's what the ankle monitor and tracking device will be for. But that doesn't mean that you're not welcome here. As long as you behave, the fact that you gave us an apology like that is more than enough for us. Just try to relax, and don't mope around too much. You're worrying us. " With that, Fiona smiled a little from the compassion, and Sally left the room she had prepared for her, which only consisted of a bed.

Sally had the most trouble trusting her out of all of them, since she had blamed herself for Fiona's betrayal for agreeing to let her join them in the first place, and didn't want to make the same mistake again. But she couldn't keep hating her for long when nearly every time she saw Fiona, she looked unhappy or uncomfortable. It was hard not to feel sorry for her, especially when the people close to her were also being made unhappy out of pity for her. Eventually, all of the Freedom Fighters ended up seeing her once again as a trusted friend of theirs, and with that, she finally began to feel better, and be accepted as an ally of theirs once again.


End file.
